Tag: Economics

Elizabeth and I teamed up again to work on our audio pieces for Comm Lab this week. Although we did record audio from the streets of NY together for last week’s assignment, we decided not to use any of it and instead decided to choose a pressing socio-political theme of the current economic “crisis.” I took photos and recorded audio from an anti-bailout protest on Wall Street last month. We were particularly attracted to some snippets from a speech given by the charismatic looking gentleman pictured above. We also used samples of other protesters chanting slogans, and put everything over a beat that I composed. In some amazing coincidence, almost all of our samples fit over the beats at 109 BPM. Only one sample of chanting protesters had to be slightly stretched in Audacity to fit the tempo.

We used several applications to make the piece. We cut up the audio in Fission, a commercial software for simple cutting. It is really usable. The beats were composed in iDrum…. We used Audacity to change the length of some of the audio pieces so that they all had the same beat. Then we assembled the song in Garage Band.

A group of outraged American businesspeople and academics from Arizona, New York, and California are taking a stand against the proposed $1 trillion plan to use taxpayer dollars to absorb bad debts from private corporations.

EndBailouts.org, the volunteer advocacy group they formed 24 hours after the announcement from Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, has launched an online resource and petition as a means to give a voice and support to Americans who oppose the bailout plan.

“Don’t give our children more debt and our creditors more power over us,” says Stacy Seger, an Arizona schoolteacher who helped launch the movement. “Don’t be afraid to speak out against these unprecedented government moves.”

The group circulates the petition online and on foot, planning to deliver it in person to Congress. Public demonstrations are planned to draw more people to the issue. EndBailouts.org is reaching out to combine efforts other taxpayer advocacy groups, and will provide information to taxpayers through online and other media channels.

For more information, or to schedule an interview with an EndBailouts.org representative, please call Nicholas DiBiase at 480-734-9983 or email ActNow[at]EndBailouts[dot]org.